7th May will be the English local elections, Welsh parliament elections, and Scottish parliament elections.
It's fascinating talking to people here in England about regional politics - most have no clue anything is happening in the Welsh or Scottish parliaments. They think it's local elections across all of the UK, but it's just England. Most people I've asked are against Scottish independence but they are ambiguous about Ireland. NI unionists either have no idea what English people think about them (or indeed how rarely the English ever think about NI at all) or else they are in complete denial.
English people in general know very little about NI, do not care about the place, and would sever ties if they thought it would mean lower taxes. It's like a toxic relationship where one partner is infatuated but the other one is only sticking around because they don't want to have to do the divorce paperwork and they know it would be a very messy break-up. Annie Wilkes from Misery comes to mind. To make matters worse, my experience is that English people are generally very positive towards the "Southern Irish" but they do not particularly like folks from the North.
Several of the Reform candidates in my local area are immigrants from Europe. People do not seem to see any irony in electing foreign nationals who want to shut down immigration options that they have benefited from. On a weekly basis I encounter Brexiteers still moaning about the restrictions they face when travelling in Europe. I never know what to say to them. And now they are voting for Reform candidates who have EU passports and can skip the queues. Bizarre.
I suspect we will end up with a lot more Green and Reform councillors. The UK Greens are not like the Irish Greens. The Irish Greens are basically LibDems, but the UK Greens act more like PBP/SF. And Reform are just the weirdest collection of over-confident misanthropes. Councils have quite a bit of power and responsibility here so it's worrying.
It's fascinating talking to people here in England about regional politics - most have no clue anything is happening in the Welsh or Scottish parliaments. They think it's local elections across all of the UK, but it's just England. Most people I've asked are against Scottish independence but they are ambiguous about Ireland. NI unionists either have no idea what English people think about them (or indeed how rarely the English ever think about NI at all) or else they are in complete denial.
English people in general know very little about NI, do not care about the place, and would sever ties if they thought it would mean lower taxes. It's like a toxic relationship where one partner is infatuated but the other one is only sticking around because they don't want to have to do the divorce paperwork and they know it would be a very messy break-up. Annie Wilkes from Misery comes to mind. To make matters worse, my experience is that English people are generally very positive towards the "Southern Irish" but they do not particularly like folks from the North.
Several of the Reform candidates in my local area are immigrants from Europe. People do not seem to see any irony in electing foreign nationals who want to shut down immigration options that they have benefited from. On a weekly basis I encounter Brexiteers still moaning about the restrictions they face when travelling in Europe. I never know what to say to them. And now they are voting for Reform candidates who have EU passports and can skip the queues. Bizarre.
I suspect we will end up with a lot more Green and Reform councillors. The UK Greens are not like the Irish Greens. The Irish Greens are basically LibDems, but the UK Greens act more like PBP/SF. And Reform are just the weirdest collection of over-confident misanthropes. Councils have quite a bit of power and responsibility here so it's worrying.
